Finding a New Home
by hpnerd328
Summary: Katara visits the South Pole with Zuko after spending a year in the Fire Nation as an ambassador, and realizes that it doesn't feel like home anymore. Zuko offers her some advice. Zutara Month 2014 - Prompt: Frozen


She hates to admit it, but the South Pole is cold.

Katara hugs her parka a little closer as she walks with her father and Zuko around the village. Her head is lowered against the wind; she breathes through a scarf, her lungs surprisingly susceptible to the frozen air. She spares a sideways glance at Zuko – the cold immediately attacking the newly-exposed part of her eye – and sees he is in a similar state.

Hakoda, having finished his tour of the new additions to the village, stops in front of his home. Zuko and Katara look up just in time to avoid running into him.

"I think I've tortured you two enough," he says with a laugh. "Come inside and warm up."

Zuko gestures Katara in first, as if to say "I want you to be warm before I am." She accepts his chivalry without hesitation, but sits close to him once they're both inside as if to offer that warmth back. She slowly pulls her gloves off and lowers her hood.

Oh, how has she changed so much? She knew she would be different after a year in the Fire Nation, but to find the South Pole cold? She felt like an imposter and wondered what her dad could possibly think of her now. As Hakoda removed his coat, she imagined him shaking Zuko, demanding to know where the real Katara was.

The real Katara wouldn't be this cold in the South Pole. The real Katara wouldn't feel like a foreigner here. The real Katara wouldn't rather be in the warmth of the Fire Nation.

Katara takes a deep breath and tries to stop thinking about what's wrong with her. She bends some water from the skin around her back and weaves it through her fingers. Zuko takes off his gloves and makes a small flame in his palm. He holds it out to Katara, who motions for him to hold it to her face.

"Th-thanks," she says.

"You're w-welcome," Zuko replies. He leaves his hood up.

Hakoda, having finished removing his extra layers, chuckles at the teenagers still bundled up in their parkas. "Anything I can do to help you warm up?"

"I b-brought some tea leaves, sir," Zuko says. "Let me-"

"No, no, you keep that flame going," Hakoda says. "Is it in your bag?"

"Yes, s-sir."

Hakoda chuckles again as he rummages through Zuko's bag. Finding the leaves, he goes to the next room to try his hand at tea-making. Katara still weaves the water through her fingers.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asks her.

Katara looks at him, but her fingers continue moving. "What do you mean?"

Zuko smiles; his little fire glows a little brighter. "We've lived in the same palace for a year. I know when something's wrong."

Katara sighs and lets the water fall. She stares at her hands. "It doesn't feel like home anymore."

"The South Pole?"

Katara nods.

Zuko doesn't reply. He stays quiet, bringing his hand into his lap and watching his flame flicker as he thinks.

"How can it not be home anymore?" Katara blurts out. "What's wrong with me?"

Zuko takes another few seconds to reply. "I felt the same way when I came back to the Fire Nation with Azula," he says. "The Fire Nation wasn't home anymore, even though I'd wanted to be there and _dreamed _about being there for so long."

"What did you do?" Katara asks.

"Well, I realized something," Zuko says. "Home isn't about where you are. It's who you're with."

"Did Azula not make you feel at home?" Katara teases with a light nudge to his ribs.

"No," Zuko said with a grin. "But Uncle did," he adds seriously.

Katara knows what happens next, but she nods anyway, encouraging him to continue.

"I visited him in the prison, but he wouldn't speak to me," Zuko says. "It hurt. And without him, I felt like I didn't belong anywhere."

"That's exactly how I feel! I don't belong in the South Pole, the only home I've ever known," Katara says. She stares at her hands again. "The air temples are out of the question. So is the Earth Kingdom. I guess the closest thing I have is the . . . Fire Nation."

She looks back at Zuko at this realization, worried he might have taken offense at the way she said Fire Nation. Instead he was smiling.

"You're not listening," he says, holding his hand back out to Katara. She rubs her hands together and warms them over his palm. "Home isn't a place. It's not where you are – it's who you're with."

"It's not where you are. It's who you're with," Katara repeats thoughtfully.

They stay like this for a moment, listening to Hakoda curse 'stupid, complicated Fire Nation tea' with soft sniggering. The room grows quiet again, leaving Katara to ponder Zuko's words.

Her thoughts quickly turn negative as she watches the flame warming her palms. Even if home is who you're with, how could she not feel at home with her family? Sure, she's changed in a year, but could that much change be for the better? How could she let this happen? What is wrong with her?

"There's nothing wrong with you," Zuko interrupts. "It's okay to change."

Katara pulls her hands back with a start. "How could you know what I was thinking?"

"I've been there, Katara. It's what I was thinking," Zuko says.

"Right," Katara says with a sigh. "Thanks."

"No problem," Zuko says. "So . . . why do you think you feel at home in the Fire Nation?" he tries to add casually.

Katara thinks about this before she answers. It has to be more than time – she spent 13 years at the South Pole, after all. It certainly wasn't the heat, although if she was honest with herself she'd rather be in the Fire Nation at noon in the middle of the summer right now.

Who you're with. . .

Katara's eyes widen. "You."

Zuko's fire swells briefly before abruptly going out. He forces a few awkward coughs out as his right cheek turns pink. "You . . . you mean that?"

"Yeah, I . . . I think I do."

Hakoda walks in with a tray of cups and a bowl serving as a makeshift teapot. "Sorry I don't have a proper teapot. Don't make tea that often."

Zuko stands and goes to the small table where Hakoda set the tray, nearly tripping on the way. "Do you need any help, sir? I should have offered sooner," he says hastily.

"I'm fine," Hakoda says. "I don't expect my guests to make their own drinks, even if one of them is my daughter." He hands a cup of tea to Katara, who accepts it with a smile, and turns back to the table.

"Thanks, Dad," she says.

Katara stares down at her cup, hoping to hide the flush of her confession that still covers her face. She spares him a sideways glance as he sits down with his own cup and sees he is in a similar state.

Zuko catches her looking at him and nudges her with another blush before Hakoda turns around to sit.

"What kind of tea did you say this was, Zuko?" Hakoda asks.

Katara knows before he answers because it's her favorite.

"Jasmine," Zuko says.

"Well, it was hard to make, but I think it's the best tea I've ever had," Hakoda says.

Katara smiles and takes a sip of her tea. Warmth travels to her toes, and she feels a little more at home than before.


End file.
